Stats

This is my version of a creature invented by Y-eskii-lass, the Ahkkelbo. [link]

Ahkkelbo are kaleesh mounts and beasts of burden, clearly reminiscent of ornithopod and ankylosaurid dinosaurs (with a little baryonyx and crylophosaurus for good measure). This is pretty much the first digital painting I've ever done, and in the process I have grown to love my Wacom tablet and Photoshop as two of the greatest inventions ever.

I think the adult bull in the lower right's head looks a little too dragony for all of the others, but I think it looks really cool too, so when it turned out that way I just left it.

Seriously, I've had it on full view for 10 min. and am just absolutely blown away by its awesomeness. You did such a good job making them more fleshed out and realistic! Thank you for keeping the bright green eyes!

I also like how you enhanced the ankylosaur features on the lower back. Mine had a few polacanthus lookin' spines, but I like this much better.

The bull in the lower right looks fine. His head/neck is probably more massive and masculine as a good indicator to the herd that this is a healthy alpha male, and one to be careful of! Nice colors too. I wonder how long ahkkelbo live. Hmmmm. (I don't know why I wonder about such things.) If our RP keeps going, I'm writing these beast/s somewhere into the story. Oh and curious, what caused the wound on the tail of the top ahkkelbo? War stuff, or another ahkkelbo?

And how do these wacom tablets work? You use it with photoshop? Don't they have an awfully small area to work on? I like traditional media, but damn, these computer art pieces look wonderful.

Thanks much for taking such a creative interest in my critter. I personally think there needs to be a big coffee table book of Star Wars FAN art.

I am glad you like it. I rather like the bright green eyes myself. I wasn't originally going to go so ankylosaurid on it until I read your comment about having used nodosaurs as inspiration. Polacanthus with its legendary butt plate and spikes and such is a cool source of inspiration. Also, Polacanthus and Iguanodon were probably contemporaries.

I'm not sure how long a beast like this would live. Kindof hard, what with them being extinct and all. But I figure they would grow fast and live at least a few decades. A fully grown bull like the one in the lower right I figure would weigh on the order of 8-10 tons, making them far and away larger than ollobacs or mumii (and hence effective shields against most predators).

Well, it sounds like our RP is heading towards the northern part of the continent. Perhaps Ahkkelbo hail from the fertile fields in the north. After they got too heavy to be valuable as scouts, they could still pull a mean plow, methinks.

Originally, I imagined the wound on his tail to be from a karrabac but now that you mention it, another Ahkkelbo seems much more likely, what with it being a single, thumb-width gash.

Wacom tablets essentially replace your mouse, letting you draw on a clipboard-like screen as if it were a pad of paper. They do a really good job because they not only detect the movements of your pen but also the pressure and angle you are holding it at, allowing you to draw in a somewhat natural fashion without frequently adjusting brush width. My tablet has a screen 6x8 inches. That sounds really small, but it's not a big deal, since you can zoom way into your drawing and such.